


Snowflakes

by Rainboq



Series: How We Get Old [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Smut, Light Dom/sub, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25608475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainboq/pseuds/Rainboq
Summary: Three years after the week from hell, Max is late getting home for date-night. The snow storm isn't helping.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Series: How We Get Old [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886578
Comments: 20
Kudos: 89





	Snowflakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bluekip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluekip/gifts).



Max’s boots crunch through the freshly fallen snow. The silence is blissful in the gentle night as she makes her way through the shortcut in the park. Her fingers itch to dig her camera out of her bag and start snapping shots of the serene stillness. She can’t though, she’s late.  _ I can control time, but somehow, I’m always running late. Irony is an asshole. _ She keeps trudging through the ankle-deep snow as quickly as she can.  _ I wish someone had warned me about the snow when we moved here. _ She can’t help but remember the first real dump they’d gotten. Arcadia had used to get maybe an inch in a given winter. Waking up to a solid foot on that early December morning had been a shock. Chloe was fine in her tall boots, but Max only had her converse sneakers.  _ She’s never gonna let me live down having to piggyback me all the way to the subway. I think she secretly enjoyed it though, she couldn’t stop laughing and smiling the whole way. _

That she was still with Chloe was something she hadn’t expected, not after what she’d done. She kept waiting for Chloe to leave her, to call her a murderer and a monster for the choice she’d made. But Chloe always insisted that there hadn’t really been a choice, and for all her words about being willing to die, she’d wanted Max to pick her underneath it all. And Max had. She can still remember the words Chloe had told her after their big fight about it on the fourth leg of their cross country road trip that landed them in NYC. She mouths them under her breath as she stomps her way over a fresh snowbank and onto the crosswalk. “You’re the only person who ever put me first.”

They’re nice, reassuring words, but she can’t help wonder if Rachel had ever put Chloe first, if she was just saying it to try and make her stop doubting herself for five fucking minutes. She’d tried to hold onto the confidence she’d found in that first week, but it had quickly faded in the aftermath of what she’d done. She wasn’t timid anymore, by any stretch. She could finally put her work out there and get noticed, but she still doubted herself so much.  _ Old habits die hard I guess. _ She had to use her gloved hands to clamber up the opposite snowbank and she started trudging down the sidewalk. She turns the final street corner and makes it to the door to their apartment building. She makes sure to get the snow off her boots on the mat before buzzing herself into the lobby and waiting for the elevator.  _ Ugh, my pants are soaked. I seriously need to stop spacing out on the weather reports. _ The elevator dings and she steps inside it, hits the button for the twelfth floor with her knuckle and considers pulling out her phone to apologize to Chloe for being late.  _ I should do it in person, this is the fifth time in a row I’ve been late. I’m such a shitty girlfriend. _

The ding sounds again and she stops out from the elevator into the cheaply carpeted hallway and walks to their apartment. 1210. She slips her key in the lock and turns it, only to have the door fly open and get a face full of Chloe’s chest as she’s pulled into a hug. “What took ya so long Maxeroni?”

Max flails for a moment before returning the embrace and the two walk back into their shared shoebox of an apartment step by step. Chloe kicks the door closed as she kisses the top of Max’s head. Max tries to mumble an apology, but it’s hard with her face wedged into Chloe’s cleavage and her cheeks burning. Chloe’s laugh is light and airy as she lets Max extract herself. “Sorry Chloe, I just got caught up in my work…”

Chloe laughs again, ruffling Max’s already messy hair. “Heh, you can manage time but not time manage. ’s fine Maxaroon. I’m just glad you’re home for date night.”

Max tries not to wince about all the overnights she’s pulled working in the studio to rush projects out the door as Chloe spins off back into their tiny kitchenette and goes back to her cooking. As Max strips out of her jacket, she can’t help marvelling at how much Chloe has changed in the three years they’ve been together. The blue hair is gone, back to Chloe’s original strawberry blond. Max can’t help but miss it, but it’s up to Chloe, not her. The biggest change though is in Chloe’s face. She isn’t sure when she started smiling more than scowling. Not that there still isn’t a hard, rough edge to her, she’s still mostly rough and tumble. But there’s this softness that’s reserved for her and her alone. The sweet genuine Chloe who’s constantly planning date nights and cooking elaborate dinners for her.  _ And I’m such a shitty girlfriend I can’t even return the favour. _

She hangs her coat up in the little closet and kicks her boots off onto the mat before wrapping her arms around Chloe from behind. “Hey.”

Chloe wiggles a little bit in her arms but continues tending to her pasta sauce. “Hey yourself.”

Max breathes deep, taking in the aroma of Chloe. She still smells like cigarettes and weed, but the alcohol stopped a year and a half ago after a pub crawl landed her in hospital. “How was your day?”

Chloe shrugs and sprinkles some oregano into the sauce. “It was fine, work was a whole lotta nothing and Travis keeps fucking creeping on me but eh, fuck it. Also, I gave the old man a call.”

She gently gives Chloe a squeeze. That Chloe and David had managed to achieve some semblance of burying the hatchet was enough. Although she would never, ever, call him dad. She tries not to think about watching Chloe get smacked for having a joint, and wondering how many more times it happened. “Oh yeah?”

Chloe hums softly for a moment, swaying her hips back into Max as she stirs the boiling pasta. “Yeah, he’s stoked for your next exhibit.”

Max closes her eyes and hums along to the tune while Chloe talks, then they trade back off. “That’s nice of him. You two talk about anything else?”

Chloe shrugs and flicks the stove off. “In a sec, I gotta take this up. You wanna set the table?”

Max reluctantly releases Chloe and gets plates ready before grabbing utensils for the table. She sets them out before returning to the kitchenette to grab glasses while Chloe strains the pasta. “Geez Chloe, don’t vape in the apartment.”

Chloe’s retort is half laughter and lacks any venom. “Oh ha ha, vaping is a hipster thing.”

Max plants a kiss on her cheek before she grabs the water jug out of the fridge and sets it and the glasses on the table before taking her seat. Chloe follows her not long after, plates piled high with penne and sauce. She can’t help salivating, Chloe’s cooking is almost as good as Joyce’s was. Chloe serves her and then takes her own seat and both dig in. It’s hard to talk with all the eating, it’s so good and she’s so cold and hungry.

Before she knows it, her plate is empty and Chloe is grinning at her over the table. “Dayum Caulfield, you demolished that. Should I have made seconds?”

Max shrugs and sheepishly twirls her fork. “What can I say, you’re an amazing cook and walking through the snow is tough work.”

Chloe laughs and she starts collecting the plates. “It’s all good, why don’t you get out of those wet clothes and have a nice hot shower?”

Max nods and gets up from that tiny table to start stripping out of her still wet clothes. In their little bachelor's apartment she’d had to give up any pretense of modesty a long time ago. Chloe had never had any to begin with, and like usual she whistled as Max stepped out of her jeans. “Looking fine girl!”

Max can’t help but laugh, she’s still a skinny, boney freckled mess. But Chloe has made it abundantly clear just how much she likes her, so who is she to complain. She steps into their tiny bathroom and turns on the water in their shower, tub combo. It takes a minute for the hot water to come through the ancient pipes, but when it does the room quickly fills up with steam and she steps into the near scalding stream of water. She gasps a bit at first as the hot water hits her frozen toes, but quickly relaxes. Her tense muscles release as she lets the welcome heat infuse her body.

It's while she’s lathering her hair that another pair of hands join her and she laughs at the contact. “You could've just said something Chloe.”

“Yeah, well, it’s more fun if I don’t.”

Max smirks as she leans back into Chloe’s massaging fingertips, letting her girlfriend lather her hair up. “Are you looking for some fun?”

Chloe grunts in reply as she guides Max’s head back under the water to rinse off the shampoo. Max knows what she wants though, and she’s happy to give it to her… After she’s gotten her hair washed. She lets out a long, satisfied groan as Chloe rubs the conditioner in before her head is submerged again. She comes out and turns to face Chloe. “Alright, my turn.”

She may not have  _ domesticated _ Chloe, but she does domme her. Mercilessly. It doesn’t take much, just her fingers pushing on the right spot above Chloe’s hips to get her up against the wall and her girlfriend’s face all red. No words to need to be exchanged as their bodies press together, pinning Chloe up against the wall. The way Chloe’s biting down on her lower lip tells Max that she’s got all the consent in the world, and there’s always the safe word. Her mouth finds Chloe’s neck easy enough and she bites in, sucking hard to leave her mark. Chloe’s whole-body shivers and Max smirks with satisfaction at the groan she gets. She leaves a trail of hickeys from Chloe’s neck, over her shoulder and then down to her chest. Her girlfriend is already a panting, needy mess, her hands making fists in Max’s hair. “Q-quit teasing me…”

Max snickers as she draws her nails over Chloe’s inner thigh, delighting in the way her sub quakes at the touch. “Oh I don’t know, I think I’ll just take my time with this.”

Chloe’s eyes flutter shut and she lets out a low moan that makes Max’s gut twist with delight as her tongue makes itself acquainted with Chloe’s nipple piercings. Her voice growing husky under the attention. “B-better… not cheat.”

Max can’t hold back the snicker as she thinks about what had happened after they’d figured out that saving a life was what triggered storms. She could rewind as much as she wanted, which meant she could edge Chloe for as long as she wanted. Chloe had quickly declared the whole thing entirely unfair and mean, not that it didn’t drive her  _ utterly _ wild when she did it. It was one of the only ways she indulged her powers, entirely for Chloe’s benefit of course. Max hums happily as she turns her attention from one breast to the other, while she slides her hand higher and higher. Chloe whimpers with need and it only makes her delight more in making her wait. Learning Chloe’s buttons had been fun, and playing with her body like an instrument more so.

Finally, she acquiesces Chloe’s insistent, pleading groans and starts rolling her knuckles over her clit. Chloe shudders and Max’s skin prickles with delight at the new, intense sounds her captive girlfriend makes. She’d been teasing her for a few days now, getting her primed for tonight. She’s been so good and kind to Max, never being upset at how late she is because of how she throws herself into her work. And Max does love to spoil her. Max’s mouth moves back up to Chloe’s neck, clamping down hard on the other side as she picks up the pace. The satisfied moans and arching back thrilling her as she starts to push Chloe to her breaking point. It’s not a long process, but it’s always a fun one. And definitely not what she’d envisioned their life together like. It had taken a lot of careful cultivation of her courage to get to the point where she had felt confident in topping to begin with, but her trepidation had quickly given way as her lover had utterly melted under her attentions. She’d even taken a polaroid of the moment, Chloe naked and dazed in the bed of her old clunker in the Arizona badlands. She has a small and growing collection of such shots; Chloe had insisted on it. She knows for a fact that her girlfriend gets off on it, and it only makes the whole thing more entertaining. In a few short minutes she can feel as Chloe’s shivering and shaking changes, her moaning gasps reaching a fever pitch.

She doesn’t let up, her finger riding with Chloe over the crest of the wave and welcoming her into pleasurable oblivion. A few moments later, Chloe is slumping against her smaller frame, one shaky hand braced against the curtain rod as she pants. Max can’t help the pleasure she feels as she surveys her handiwork. “Happy date night sweetie.”

The two share a long, tender kiss, tongues intermingling before drawing back. Max has a shower to finish, even though she’s long since warmed up. Chloe steps out of the shower, long limbs awkward from numbness. She hums to herself with Chloe cleans up and takes care of business, this is just the first encounter of the night, but in the end she’ll probably have Chloe chained against the radiator, or maybe the bed?  _ Decisions, decisions… I wonder what she wants tonight? The blindfold? Ice? Hmmmmm. _ She starts scrubbing herself with body wash, getting rid of the accumulated sweat from her snowbound trek.  _ If teenage me could see us now, she’d definitely freak out. This stuff was all so foreign to me back then…  _ She can’t help but remark at the irony of it all. She’s still a little ball of anxiety in most things, even if she doesn’t let it control her like it used to. But when she’s with Chloe, she’s so in control that it all slips away and she’s focused just on giving Chloe all the love, care and occasional whippings she needs.

She breathes out a satisfied sigh as she rinses off the suds and shuts off the shower, stepping out into the steam of their little bathroom. Chloe’s lounging on the sink, a smirk written all over her face. “All clean?”

Max slips between her knees and warps her arms around her girlfriend, Chloe returning the gesture with her arms and legs as they share another intimate and passionate kiss. Max draws back with a tiny giggle and grabs a towel off the rack. “Something like that.”

Chloe peppers her back and shoulders with kisses, and Max grins. Chloe always had a thing for her freckles, and she loves it when she kisses them. She towels off and reluctantly opens the door, letting the steam spill out into the main room before she hunts for some pajamas. Chloe grumbles softly but does the same. It’s all theater, she likes tearing off Chloe’s clothes and making her guess when the next round is coming. They both settle into an easy cuddle on the bed, Chloe pulling out her laptop and the pair queue up some Adventure Time on Netflix. “Anything interesting happen at work today, Maximoan?”

Max giggles and blows a raspberry on her girlfriend’s collarbone. “Just a crazy mother in law trying to get me to do stupid edits on wedding photos. Thankfully the account is password locked and she didn’t know it so we could tell her to take a hike.”

Chloe rolls her eyes and plants a kiss on Max’s head. “Some people are just hella crazy, glad you could tell her to fuck off.”

Max nods and nestles into the cuddle a bit more, enjoying the protective warmth of Chloe’s arm over her. “Something like that… You never did say what else you and David talked about.”

Chloe grumbles before shrugging. “He’s about to get downgraded to David or StepDouche again, he keeps refusing to acknowledge that we’re a  _ thing _ . He always calls us friends and I’m getting pretty fucking annoyed.”

Max sighs and nuzzles into her collarbone. “I can’t believe he’s still on about that. Do you think it’s because we’re only girlfriends and not… you know…”

Chloe’s eyebrow arches and she pauses the video. The two have danced around the issue for a while. Things still don’t feel permanent after all of it and the anxious side of Max never shuts up about it. “You mean like getting hitched?”

She takes a deep breath and nods, peppering Chloe’s bruising neck with a few small kisses. “Yeah…”

Chloe shivers and drums her fingers on the laptop. “Do… you want to? I can never get a read on you when we talk about this.”

“I just… I don’t know… I want to, but also I don’t know when the right time for that is?”

Chloe’s cheeks gently blush and she tilts up Max’s chin with a finger so they can share a quick kiss before they press foreheads together. “It’s the right time when it feels right.”

Max takes a deep breath, a giddy thrill winding its way through her heart. “I mean, we did promise to stay together.”

Chloe pulls back and plants another kiss on her forehead before returning to the press. “Forever. How could I forget?”

Max has to swallow down the growing lump in her throat. “I meant it.”

Chloe’s eyes are practically sparkling. Her face is consumed in a broad, sincere smile, “So did I, does this mean you want to…”

Max tugs Chloe into a long, tender kiss. No tongue, not sucking face. Just the simple intimacy of lips on lips. When it breaks, she nods, her body buzzing with excitement and her voice breathless. “Yes.”

“Well shit, I need to get you a ring then.”

Chloe’s body is out of bed like a shot and Max watches with an amused giggle as her girlfriend bolts for the closet.  _ Did she already have a ring prepared? _ When Chloe pulls out a wire coat hanger and heads for their little toolbox and grabs a pair of tin snips, she starts to see where this is going. The spectacle tugs at her heart as Chloe snips off a length of copper and rushes back to her. Max obligingly holds out her ring finger and Chloe wraps the length around it, making little notches to show where it fits before snipping again and pulling out her little soldering kit. Max watches as she waits for the iron to heat, trying to fight back happy tears as Chloe adds a bead of solder to the makeshift ring and starts blowing on the hot metal.

The moment it’s cooled enough, Chloe darts back to her, getting on one knee and holding out her little improvised ring. “Max, will you marry me?”

Her breath catches in her throat and tears spill from her face. This little moment is so  _ them _ , so intimate and spur of the moment. It’s a wonder she can croak out “Yes.”

Chloe’s crying too as she slips her little ring onto Max’s finger before slipping up and sharing another simple, intimate kiss with her. When they both come up for air, Max immediately grabs William’s old camera off their nightstand and the pair share a selfie, Chloe holding up Max’s hand with the little ring, both crying a little as they share the biggest smiles.

With the picture developed, she takes a minute to examine the ring on her finger. It’s a little crooked, the wire is bent a bit, but the copper is segmented in one place with the silvery solder and it takes her breath away. It’s just so  _ Chloe _ . Rough-hewn, improvised, but heartfelt and honest. She grabs Chloe and tugs her into another kiss, this one brimming with passion.

They don’t care about the noise complaints they get the next morning.

**Author's Note:**

> I dedicated this work again to Bluekip because her thirst for all things Pricefield is utterly infectious.
> 
> Oh look at that, I can write smut. This was a little one shot I hammered out before starting my hiatus, hope you all enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments.
> 
> Huge thanks to [Santa_Cruz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santa_Cruz/pseuds/Santa_Cruz), [Blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluekip) and Olga for betaing.


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